MonsterPerfect Good idea lost in the noise

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

mike48128 Busby Berkley might have been a genius, but this movie is a good example of just how curious the USA was in 1941. Yeah, I'm white, but the black-face minstrel finale ruins this entire film for me. One of the best of the "backyard musicals" staring the energetic and hugely talented duo of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. Several fine musical numbers including the "Barnyard Hoe-Down". Then they go and ruin it all with an over-blown minstrel finale, beautifully filmed, but dated and very uncomfortable in this day and age. James Gleason and Donald Meek are wonderful as supporting character actors. The story is totally unbelievable, and, as always, they put on a show. The wartime nostalgia with kids from England and "fresh air camp" for city children is appropriate for the times, in 1941. Other than the "minstrels" I do not think there is anyone who is actually black in the entire movie! Almost as weird as the "white" minstrel show number ("Mandy") in "White Christmas"! Too bad. I really wanted to like this film. This film would have otherwise been rated an 8 or 9, as it is fun to watch right up to the ending. Not often shown uncut, except on TCM. Sometimes the minstrel number is cut or shortened for broadcast (on other channels), as often done for Holiday Inn's "Abraham" (with Bing Crosby in black-face!).

gkeith_1 Very famous dances and dancers. 'Hoe Down'. Judy a great dancer; she had very smooth and well timed technique. Mickey as type of Carmen Miranda, swaying and sashaying. Minstrelsy spectacular had great dancing, even though racist by today's standards. I loved all the front row men tap dancing while sitting in chairs. Minstrelsy was big in real life in around the 1880s, and I feel that some of the routines were respectful to African Americans -- yet some character dialogues were just a little too stereotypical. Maybe the minstrelsy part could not be made today.Ray McDonald had fabulous dancing. He always did, including in "Till the Clouds Roll By" with June Allyson. I guess there was not enough room in the movie dancing field for his talents, what with Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly and the later blossoming of Bob Fosse, Bobby Van, Tommy Rall, et al. In early 1941, the U.S. had not yet entered World War Two, but 'Fritz' was bothering the Europeans. The Great Depression was ending (and maybe studio budgets were now higher), but it seems that great dancers had to make room for the greatest superstars. Even Frank Sinatra was taught to tap dance.In a similar vein, Judy Garland IMO took the place of Deanna Durbin and Shirley Temple, regarding singing and dancing. There was not enough room in the superstar heaven for all three, and Judy always won out. If they all three helped take the U.S. through the Depression, and helped make big money for the studios, in the end only one major star (Judy, I feel) was affordable. Mickey Rooney (RIP) always felt Judy was used and abused, and yet Durbin and Temple must have always felt cheated because their careers were short-circuited. Remember that Temple was supposed to be Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz". It seems that after that, her career downslided, World War Two was coming, and Judy was left to carry the 1940s musicals a lot. I don't remember Shirley singing and dancing in "Fort Apache".Look again at Mickey Rooney. He went into the war. When he came out, his career had to be kickstarted again. Gee-Gosh-Dad-Andy-Hardy was a thing of the past. Mickey managed to stay within the entertainment industry in one way or another, and later acted in character parts. I saw him in "Night at the Museum", and I thought that he was excellent.Mickey and Judy in "Babes on Broadway" were fabulous. They always seemed to play well against and with each other. Their costuming was wonderful and at times hilarious. I especially liked the 'ghost sequences' in this movie, where they portrayed Richard Mansfield, Fay Templeton, Sir Harry Lauder, Sarah Bernhardt, George M. Cohan, et al.10/10

taxib My husband coerced my 12 year old daughter to sit through this film which she felt mildly entertaining... until they rolled out that minstrel show finale, and then she was just amazed and appalled. I hadn't seen the film and was actually rather shocked, but it led to a very interesting discussion with our daughter about the accepted social conventions of the times, so off-putting to us now but the performers at the time seemed quite oblivious to the possibility is causing offense. I think my daughter, for the first time, 'got' the importance of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement in a way that no text book could explain. To that extent, the film was a valuable time capsule. The rest of it was rather blah "let's do a show stuff," although my daughter said Andy Rooney reminded her of Leonardo Dicaprio and after awhile I saw what she meant.We speculated that the sleaziness of movies these days would present a time capsule of its own for future audiences, who will probably be amazed at how crass and sex-obsessed our current culture is. At least I hope that's the case. I'm so maxed out on sleaze and the effect it's having on my daughter, I seriously consider moving to another country sometimes. Anway, this movie is harmless fluff with good hearted values on the one hand and mindlessly offensive racism on the other.

preppy-3 I've never seen a Judy Garland/Micky Rooney musical. They did a number of them in the 30s and 40s. They seem to have disappeared. Watching this one I can see why.Within the first 10 minutes I was ready to turn it off. The plot is OLD (Garland and Rooney putting on a show), the dialogue is terrible and the jokes are SO bad. Also Rooney overacts horribly. But I stayed with it. When Garland showed up--about 15 minutes in--the movie got bearable. She was so young, beautiful and full of life. She made me stay with it. When the songs and dances came on they were great--and there's a hoedown number that stops the show. And Fay Bainter is very good as a theatrical agent. There's also a very bizarre sequence with Garland and Rooney in an empty theatre playing different characters--it's WAY too long and gets kind of dull. And this has an interesting subplot about WWII and British children. Still I can't recommend this.Rooney is just horrible--he overacts in the dramatics and he REALLY overacts in the musical numbers--I was embarrassed just to watch him. That drags down the movie and the big finale was a minstral show with the cast in blackface! I realize in 1941 that was considered OK but it's terribly racist today (for the record I'm a white guy). I tried to look past that but I couldn't. And it's too long (almost 2 hours).I'm giving it a 6--but I really can't say I liked it. The 6 is for Garland and some of the numbers.